Much like The Biz of Baseball, the The Biz of Football will bring you news 24/7/365 on the NFL, AFL, NCAA Football, NFL Europa, and much, much more.

Look for interviews with those that work in the business of football -- be that the front office of teams, or broadcasters -- and look for insight directly from those making the decisions in football.

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What about new stadium designs? The Biz of Football is already working with key architects HOK Sport and HKS Inc. to get the latest computer renderings and information for stadiums that are being designed for several NFL and NCAA teams.

Currently, all information regarding the latest NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place, as are high resolution computer renderings from HKS Inc and HOK Sport for the following stadiums being developed:

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We start today with data that should have long ago been published. Salary data from 1896 - 2004 that had been researched by the late Doug Pappas is available for use. This incredible spreadsheet holds tens of thousands of rows of data.

DISCLAIMER: Any republication of data within the spreadsheet must ALWAYS be attributed to Doug Pappas. Be aware that while the source of the data is listed within the spreadsheet, it is suggested that researchers re-validate it for accuracy.

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The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) announced today that the Bank of America Charitable Foundation has donated $300,000, one of the largest corporate contributions given to the museum in recent years, to support a three-year national Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) tour of the museum's acclaimed traveling Negro Leagues history exhibition, "Discover Greatness".

"As the official Bank of Major League Baseball, Bank of America is honored to provide thousands of people across the country the opportunity to learn, and hopefully gain a greater appreciation, of the contributions of African- Americans to the game of baseball and its impact on America," said Spence Heddens, Kansas City market president for Bank of America. "By teaming up with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, we're giving more people the chance to experience a compelling piece of history and reconnecting Historically Black Colleges and Universities to an era they played a major role in shaping."

"We are thrilled to partner with Bank of America on this exciting and historic tour that we believe will open eyes and minds to one of the great chapters in American history," said Bob Kendrick, NLBM marketing director. "It is important that the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum reestablish the connection between the Negro Leagues and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We believe this tour will not only validate the caliber of athlete that played in the Negro Leagues but will educate and serve as a source of pride and inspiration for students attending those schools."

The partnership will also make the exhibition available to African- American Museums in collaboration with the NLBM to support audience development. In March, the exhibition was hosted by the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee in conjunction with the inaugural Civil Rights Game developed by Major League Baseball(R). The exhibition will open in Baltimore, Maryland at the Great Blacks in Wax Museum from June 1 through July 14.

Additional locations are:

National Center for Civil Rights Study and African American Culture - Alabama State University - Montgomery, Alabama - July 26 - September 23

Yesterday, the The Topps Company, Inc. announced that it had received an unsolicited indication of interest from The Upper Deck Company to acquire Topps for a price of $10.75 per share. Topps had previously received an indication of interest for the same amount from Upper Deck as part of the Company's "go shop" process under its existing merger agreement with a The Tornante Company LLC, a group led by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, and Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC.

The offer from Upper Deck for Topps would translate to $425 million and ostensibly create a monopoly by merging the two in the baseball trading card industry.

Since the previous indication of interest from Tornante and Madison Dearborn Partners was not pursued by the Topps Board of Directors for what Topps said was “a substantial number of reasons, including the absence of any information as to whether Upper Deck would be capable of financing its proposed acquisition,” Topps has said that the risk of that transaction would not be consummated due to the failure to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, Upper Deck's unwillingness to assume sufficient risk as to the occurrence of such a failure, Upper Deck's insistence on limiting its liability in the event of its breach of a definitive agreement and certain other issues identified in its indication of interest.

Upper Deck spokesman Don Williams said, "We're in very early and very preliminary talks to acquire Topps."